Being a Soc in a Greaser world
by ummidontknow
Summary: Mistaken as a greaser, Cherry's cousin "Cat" becomes friends with a group of local greaser boys. OC friendship with all, OC/Dally in the beginning that eventually leads to a Soda romance further in. Rated M just to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

I was surprised; I thought the party my cousin had dragged me to was going to be dull. The theme was to dress as something she called greasers, we didn't have those back in Pennsylvania but it seemed that being one meant boys dressed like Elvis and the girls were often in trashy clothing or ripped jeans. It wasn't the best party I had been to in my 16 years, but it wasn't bad until introductions started. After being introduced to a few people by my cousin Sherri, as well as her boyfriend Bob, I headed for the upstairs bathroom only to be cornered by Bob. Even with my continuous refusal, Bob didn't seem to get it into his head that I didn't want him just because my cousin did. Luckily for me she walked up right as he was force kissing me, but unluckily for me I got caught in the middle of the lovers quarrel and got yelled at as if it had been my fault he put his dirty paws all over me. As nice as she could be, Cherry was frightening if her anger was directed at you and due to lack of proper judgment that alcohol brought her anger was aimed at me in the form of shouting for me to go for a walk so her and Bob could talk. Not sure why I couldn't just go back downstairs and avoid them, but as I said: she was scary so I wasn't going to add fuel to her drunken fire by arguing with her logic. Because of all this I was left sitting at a park fountain, completely lost since I had just moved in with her family a few days ago. I tried to remember how to get back to either the party or her house, but it wasn't working out too well for me. My buzz was wearing off and for a summer night the air was getting ridiculously chilly, but I was tired so I listened to my legs and decided to stay seated there.

"Hey greaser!" I heard an angry voice yell from behind me, causing me to fall into the fountain from surprise (the remaining alcohol in my system didn't help my balance much either). I could hear the voice laughing when I came up from under the water, my dress up greaser outfit clinging to me, the water making the fabric even less protective against the night chill. I moved my hair from my face so I could open my eyes without water dripping in. After I pulled my hands away from I saw they were covered in the heavy makeup Cherry had me wear to look trashy. I heard more laughter and looked up while wiping my hands on my mid-thigh skirt, a teen boy who looked as if he would fit in at the party with a tight sleeveless shirt on, greased hair and a pair of ripped jeans was there laughing, pointing a finger of the hand not holding onto an almost empty beer bottle at me.

"What's so funny now?" I asked getting annoyed with him laughing at my fall into the water. He stopped laughing, but never stopped smiling, "your running make-up looks like a clowns, all you need is some lipstick!" he burst out into more laughter, but this time I laughed along with him. I thought I looked like a clown before my make-up was running, which made me wonder how much worse it looked now. After getting my breath back I rubbed my face with water trying to make it better before he helped me out of the fountain.

"Sorry bout the scare, didn't know you were that jumpy" he said chuckling at the memory of my failure in balance. I smiled at him but when I went to reply my voice quivered with the wind blowing against me; when you're not angry or laughing, being soaked gets pretty cold.

"How far away ya live?"

I managed to reply through my chattering teeth, "I..I have no idea. I'm n-new to the area" He gave me a long stare before seeming to decide on something,

"Man you're gonna catch your death if you spend the night wandering around out here in those clothes, come on."

"I'm not a man" He started walking away, I stood confused before following,

"Wait, where to?"

"Does it matter? We're gonna get ya some warm clothes"

That was convincing enough for me, dry clothes and being inside sounded better than sitting at that fountain, but knowing my luck it would down pour right after being handed the new clothing and sent on my way. That or I'd get kidnapped, robbed or raped. Before I could respond to my morbid thought by making an excuse to turn around and leave we arrived at a small house with lots of noise coming from inside, most of it sounding like there was a fight going on.

"You must have a lot of brothers" I said as we walked up the stairs.

"Shoot, this ain't my house, this is the Curtis's house, if it were my house you'd get lost in a sea of trash" he laughed at his own comment and opened the door as I stood, tempted to correct his use of ain't since it's a pet peeve of mine. He walked inside and into another room, leaving me standing awkwardly and shivering in the doorway. While looking around I saw that it was two younger boys wrestling on the floor that was causing all the noise with another cheering them on, before I got a good look at the boys a deep voice shouted, grabbing my attention. "Two-bit, what in hell did you do to this poor little lady!?" a very muscular man said as he looked up from the fight.

"I'm not that little" I mumbled, but of course no one could actually hear me over the match that had not stopped on my account. The greaser who had caused me to fall into the fountain came back out with two beers in his hands, which interrupted my scanning of the room before I took one of the bottles I probably didn't need out of Two-bits hand. Before I even managed to get out a thank you, or ask for the clothing I came for, another young man walked into the house and took the beer out of my hands before sitting down on the couch while glaring ahead the whole time. I gave him an annoyed stare that he didn't notice and followed Two-bit into another room, deciding it was best not to mess with the man when he was clearly upset.

Once he led me into a bedroom he spoke, "Sorry bout Dally there, he gets like that sometimes."

I shrugged, "I guess everyone has moments, just please stop me if I start acting like him"

"Oh an how exactly does ol'dal act when he's in a mood?"

I smiled back at his amused smirk and answered hoping he knew I was playing around, "likes he's got a sharp stick up his butt."

Two-bit started laughing and took another swig of his beer before yelling out into the other room. "Hey Darry, ya mind if I give this chicka some of your clothes to wear?"

I heard a voice yell back; recognizable as the buff guy that said something when I first came in, "as long as it's not my work clothes."

Two-bit started to make small talk as he continued to roam through Darry's closet. "So chicka, what's your name?"

"Catalina"

"Ooooh Cat, little kitty cat" he said as he patted my head mockingly, used to this reaction I just rolled my eyes,

"Yeah haven't heard that before. Kitty's fine though" I wondered if he ever stopped being happy, or if it was just the beer,

"Alrighty, kitty it is! I'm Two-bit Matthews."

"What's your real name?" Strange names happen but I doubted any parent would choose that.

Shrugging he avoided the answer, "No one uses it. You got a tail hidden under that outfit?" I slapped his hands away before he could lift up my skirt, funny or not I wasn't allowing that.

"Get out of the room Two-Bit Matthews, so I can change."

"Aww do I have to?" he said like a child as he walked towards the door.

"Yes, now Shoo, leave, be gone."

"Geeze, bossy for this not even being your house an all" grinning he walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

I changed out of the damp clothes and into Darry's, giggling quietly as I looked down. The pants fell down to the floor right when I let go of them and the old shirt could have passed as a mini dress. Taking a safety pin off of my previous outfit, I stuck it through the pants hoping it would be enough to tighten the waistline of the jeans. Luckily for me my wet shirt was black, which allowed me to wipe any remaining makeup off onto it without staining the cloth before I crumpled it up with my other wet articles and walked back to the living room. By now the boys who were wrestling were all doing something else, too distracted to notice that I was standing there watching everyone. Two-bit was sitting on the floor laughing with a boy with nicely slicked back hair and one with big puppy dog eyes, the two who were wrestling before, both who looked a bit younger than the rest of the group. Dally was nowhere in sight, but in his place on the couch was a boy laying down in only a towel watching the news on TV just as two other men were doing. One being Darry, still sitting in the same armchair as before as a boy with his shirt unbuttoned who had cheered on the fight stood behind him. "Damn Socs, 'Troubled teens turn good' bull shit" The boy standing behind Darry continued to mumble dirty things about the 'Socs' when finally Darry cooled him down. "Come on now Steve, save it for later, we have a lady in the house, don't need her traumatized from your ruff talking" This made the boys realize I was there.

I stood there for a minute, everything going silent except for the television. An awkward tension filled the air until Two-bit spoke up, "You look reeeaaalll lady-like in those clothes!" Two- bit laughed, obviously passing buzzed and reaching drunk. Awkwardly I waved to the others before responding to Two-bit, feelings of being timid disappearing as I joked back, striking a model-esq pose, "I know, don't I just look so sexy!" The guys laughed along with me and Two-bit, or at me, either way I was happy.

A voice came from behind be, "When'd Two-bit pick up this little broad?" I turned my head to see Dally coming out of the bathroom before he walked past me and sat back on the couch, making the nearly naked boy sit up.

"Well she just fell for me!" Two-bit exclaimed breaking out into laughter with me. Apparently he hadn't explained why I was there since no one else laughed along. The guy in the towel walked over, holding out his hand, being nice enough not to point out how I had stared at him with every step,

"Hi I'm Sodapop."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Kitty." I shook his hand, using a nickname to introduce myself since everyone else seemed to go by their nicknames around here. As our hands shook his towel fell off, leaving both Sodapop and I to blush different shades of red as he scrambled to pick up his towel while I struggled to make sure I kept my eyes the other direction. I tried to regain composure quickly but ended up giggling and pausing between words as I spoke, "Uhh…wow…you, uh…sure now how to greet a lady to make a lasting impression don't you?" he chuckled with one hand firmly around the towel and the other behind his neck, still embarrassed. It didn't help that the guy in the DX shirt, Steve I think Darry said, came over and started saying a few borderline raunchy jokes about him being arrested for being a flasher and asking if that was one of the tricks he used to get girls in bed which made the pink return to his cheeks.

Trying to help him and myself out of the situation, I attempted to continue as if nothing had happened even though I still felt a burning heat in my face and a racing in my chest,

"I really like your nick name Sodapop, where did it come from?." he hesitated to say anything at first,

"It's my real name, believe it or not" I blushed, feeling bad for calling it a nick name (although, who could blame me for thinking so),

"That's original, better than a boring common name and better than Catalina, it's like my parent decided to mix a cat with a ballerina." he eased up and replied happily,

"Shoot if you like my name you're going to love my brothers' name, it's Ponyboy" just then the younger boy with nicely slicked hair spoke up, "even says so on my birth certificate." I smiled, happy the awkwardness was over.

I tried to use slang Cherry had taught me for the party "you both have real tuff names to match both of your tuff hairs" Ponyboy smiled, either relived that I didn't say anything bad or happy I gave them a complement, or for all I knew he was smiling because I used the term tuff wrong and sounded stupid. Not knowing what else to say I smiled back then turned my attention to Darry as Sodapop disappeared past me,

"Thanks for the clothes Darrel."

"No sweat kid".

"So, How'd you end up with ol' two bit anyways?" Steve asked while plopping down onto the couch next to Dally as the boy who had not yet been introduced moved from the floor to the last spot on the couch.

"He scared me half to death, which caused me to accidentally fall in the park fountain," The boys started laughing, except for Darry, who was giving Two-bit a stern look before standing up. For a second I thought he was walking forward to smack Two-bit but instead he went towards Ponyboy,

"I'm headed to bed, got work in the morning, you better be in bed in an hour little man" Darry spoke with authority as he stared down Ponyboy before hugging him goodnight. As he walked into a bedroom to say goodnight to Sodapop, Ponyboy mumbled under his breath, most likely something having to do with not being a kid and not needing to go to bed. Two-bit brought the conversation back to me,

"Kittycat, if you didn't know where you were why did you go wanderin' around at night anyways?" Shrugging I replied simply, not wanting to go into detail about the nights events,

"My cousin told me to leave the house for a bit, and I ended up getting lost." The last boy who I have yet to have a name for finally spoke up,

"Why'd they do that?" I tried not to sound bitter answering him,

"She wanted time with her boyfriend" time to fight with him and hear his side before mine. Before they could ask for more details I looked at the young man,

"What's your name?" He seemed surprised, as if he didn't realize he hadn't told me or as if he was surprised I that I wanted to know. It was strange to think this boy was just wrestling with Ponyboy, the expression in his face suggested he was going to bolt for the door any second if I moved too quickly or spoke too loudly. I wondered if the fresh looking cuts on his cheek were there because he was a tough fighter at heart or if someone had hurt him and he was really as delicate as his eyes suggested.

"It's Johnny." His smile was soft, nothing like the rest of the boys with their livid personalities and Dallas with his cold one.

Ponyboy scoffed, "Some cousin, kicking you out for a boy." Steve propped his feet on the coffee table and replied in a tone that was only half joking, showing he didn't really like Ponyboy hanging around much,

"If you were my bother I would kick you out for a girl. Hell, I would just randomly do it."

"Gee thanks. Good thing you ain't my brother." I wanted to correct his use of ain't just like before. Are not. How hard is "are not" and "is not", not "ain't". I was apparently mentally becoming the vocal grammar police. Soda laughed from next to me at the bickering between his brother and friend, now dressed in sleep pants and tshirt instead of a towel. He eased Ponyboy's stress as he walked in and took the seat Darry had been in,

"Don't worry Pony, I won't do that to ya." Ponyboys smile didn't last long as Steve spoke up and their bickering started again,

"Kids are annoying, they don't get it."

"I ain't a kid" Stop the use of that word, I mentally command you.

"Isn't it your bed time, kid?"

"I'm not tired" Thank the lord he didn't say it again. I'm going to either explode, or have to get over my pet peeve to be around these boys again.

"Aww, what a big boy you are!" Two-bit exclaimed at Ponys expense, getting a laugh from Steve and a grumbled "shut up" from Ponyboy. Johnny came to his defense, making it a fair two on two,

"If he's a kid I must be a baby because I'm yawning like crazy." Dally offered to walk him home, which surprised me since he had barely spoken all night and didn't exactly seem like the overly caring type of guy with the cold vibes he had been giving off. Instead Steve offered to drive them both, mentioning how he wanted to swing by and see his girl before the night was out anyways. Putting on his jacket Dally stared at me for a second with a look that was somehow intense yet blank at the same time,

"You need a ride too, Red?" I basically gawked at him, with my eyebrows curved in question and my mouth parted in surprise that he asked, the blank stare turned to slight annoyance when I didn't reply quick enough,

"Uh, that'd be nice but I don't know where her house is or if she's awake or anything…but uh, thanks." Soda told me to just call in the morning, and to take the couch in the meantime as the three boys walked out the door. With the departing of most of the group Two bit got restless, "Can't believe they all split already! It's not even late yet."

"I hear Buck is throwing a party tomorrow" Soda told him

"Sounds fun" Pony chimed in only to get a response he didn't want to hear from Two-bit,

"Not for kids! Hey Kittycat, whatcha doin tomorrow?" I smiled, extremely happy I was being invited to hang out with the boys again, it was nice to make friends so soon,

"Nothing better than that."

Soda got pony to bed, not wanting to go against his elder brother, and came back out. Two-bit stayed for 30 or so more minutes, spending most of it ranting about how he hoped certain people would be there tomorrow for him to annoy, fight with, laugh with, and flirt with before heading off to his house, leaving Soda and I to head off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

It was strange waking up in someone else's house, but I guess I should be used to it considering I have been waking up in Cherry's home for days instead of my own. I suppose I wasn't going to get used to it until I thought of this town as my home too. It probably also doesn't help going into, and sleeping in a house full of strangers, not exactly a smart move and not exactly a normal situation but maybe things like this happened to this group of boys often. Maybe they were just the type of people who would bring in strays and help them.

Sighing, I decided to sit up, not wanting to over stay my welcome. The longer I stay the more awkward it might be, especially if they had left for work already and came home to find me still here. Even with how polite they had been, and even though they had invited me to a party tonight I still didn't feel right taking advantage of their hospitality. None of it felt real, that I had met such nice boys and been allowed to stay, but here I was.

I wasn't sure what time it was, but there didn't appear to be anyone here, at least no one awake. I walked into the kitchen and stood there, awkwardly looking around, for what I wasn't sure, I just wasn't ready or awake enough to leave. I headed for the room where I had changed; carefully opening the door just in case Darry was still asleep. The room was empty, which allowed me to put back on my still slightly damp outfit from the night before. As I folded the clothing I had borrowed I heard a door open and another close, walking back into the hall I saw that someone had gone into the bathroom. I headed back to the living room and placed the worn clothing on the side table, noticing all the old newspapers below I chose one and jotted a note with my number on it for the boys.

_Let me know about the party. Thanks again for letting me stay the night. Cat_

A door clicked, I turned my head to see Ponyboy standing in his underwear, eyes wide as he clearly forgot I was here. We stared at each other, a blush becoming very clear on both of our faces. I had seen more men in their underwear in the past 24 hours then I had in my 16 years. No, I lied, that's not true, but seeing two of the Curtis brothers near naked made me wonder if I would see the third in his birthday suit as well. He stuttered something that I didn't catch, being too busy mumbling my own comment about making a phone call as I rushed into the kitchen while he turned and basically bolted for his room. Youngest, middle or oldest any of those boys could cause a heart to race when standing with minimal clothing.

Leaning against the wall, waiting for someone to answer the phone, I watched as a now clothed Curtis walked into the room, avoiding eye contact as he looked around for something to eat. After trying Cherry's home number twice I decided to sit down at the table with him, unsure of how to break the awkward silence. I gazed deeply into his bowl of cereal racking my brain for something to talk about. The boys were easy to talk to as a group but with just Pony it was quiet. Small talk wasn't my strong suit, I always ended up asking too personal of questions, but what I was even worse at was staying quiet in uncomfortable silences.

"So, how old are you Ponyboy?"

Glancing up once he replied briefly, "13"

The silence continued, further discouraging me from talking. Luckily, he didn't seem to like the silence either and sensed my need for conversation,

"I'm turning 14 soon, before the end of the summer. Sodas 16, and Darrys just 20. He always acts older than he is though."

I was about to reply but cut myself off, trying to stop my voice before asking too personal of questions like I always do, but I never knew what to say otherwise. It took me a minute but I continued with what seemed like a safe question,

"How old is Johnny? He looks pretty young."

"Yeah everyone always thinks that, but he's Sodas age."

"What? Crazy. I would have never guessed that, I would have seen him as 14 or so, I guess that makes you the youngest, at least I know why they were treating you like a child now."

Ponys face scrunched up, which would have made him look older if it wasn't for the fact that his cheeks were also puffed out with the food he had shoved into them, apparently I had hit a nerve as the sour look didn't disappear from his face even after he swallowed his food, leaving us to sit in a tense silence.

"I hate that" he mumbled, "Always treating me like a kid, just because I'm the youngest doesn't mean I don't know how to handle myself, ya know? Shoot, I can read better than most of'em."

I sat in silence, I wasn't sure how to respond since I barely knew these people, so I let him continue his ranting.

"Darry acts like I don't know anything, like no matter what I do I'm gonna mess it up."

"Probably just being an over protective brother, siblings get like that, just have to try to see the love behind the nagging."

Pony scoffed at me, as if what I said was one of the most ridiculous things he's ever heard. "Sometimes I think he hates me. He just likes to be the boss."

I suddenly felt very old talking to Ponyboy, he reminded me of how moody and one sided I was when younger, just like he seemed to be now at this age. I could probably tell him that his brother loved him and just didn't know how to show it, I could tell him a lot of things and try to make him feel better but he would probably just argue whatever I said.

"He didn't use to be as bad until our parents died."

And suddenly I felt like shit for thinking of him as a bratty child now that I knew he had a real reason to be upset in life. Pony shot out of his seat and rushed his bowl to the sink, in an attempt to hide the extra water forming in his eyes that I had noticed the second his sentence left his mouth. I decided to stop staring at him in hopes it would make it less uncomfortable for him, as if it somehow gave him more of a private moment as I thought of what to say or do.

"I'm sorry you and your brothers had such a bad thing happen and now have to manage without them, sweet boys like you shouldn't have to grow up so fast. But it looks like you have a whole lot of friends that will be there for you like a family would, and even if your brother seems harsh sometimes I bet it's just because he doesn't know how to cope and just wants you and Soda to be safe because holding onto each other is the most important thing, doesn't want to see anyone else get hurt."

"yeah….. I guess….I just hate being left out just because I'm younger"

"Well, I left my number for them but you can use it too, I don't care if you're younger than me I'll still spend time with you if you want."

He smiled, neither rejecting nor accepting my offer, but I was glad he didn't respond with a moody comment. Not knowing what else to say and suddenly feeling like I had caused his bad mood I got up to try calling again for directions. After minutes of ringing I gave up, letting my head fall against the wall in defeat.

"Why don't you just check the phone book for the address?"

I blushed, feeling like an idiot, "You know, you're right, you're more adult than me, you can use that in your next argument" We laughed as he handed me the phone book so I could find where Cherry lived.

"If you want I can walk with ya for a bit, I plan on catching a movie soon."

"Sure, I should learn where things like that are in town anyways if you don't mind me tagging along for the walk, is there a convenience store near there?" I remembered going to that the other day, so I thought I could make it back from that store easily.

He walked into the other room, plopping down to put on his shoes, "yeah it's a little further into town, close to the Soc turf"

"Like gang turf?"

"Yeah, something like that, we try to stay on our side and they try to stay on theirs, unless they're lookin' for a fight." He stood up, not bothering to grab a jacket to cover his sleeveless t-shirt, before opening the front door and letting me walk out first.

"This town is strange, like…we have upper, middle, and lower class but kids don't get caught up in that usually just the adults, people hangout based off interests rather than the money you have and even groups that don't really like each other don't claim an area as their own and get in fights over it."

"You're town sounds strange, better then here though. It'd be nice not to go for a walk assuming that some rich kid is going to try to start somethin'"

"I can't even imagine living a life like that, I'd be dead by now if it were my life since I don't know how to fight and am weak when it comes to getting hit"

Pony laughed, even though I wasn't being funny, "I don't think you'll have too much issue, they bother greaser girls some but don't really do anything violent most of the time unless they're trying to get back at someone or somethin'"

"Doesn't really make me feel much safer, thanks Ponyboy" I said as we stopped walking.

"Sorry," He scratched the back of his head similarly to his brother Sodapop did the other night before pointing down a street, "If you go that way for 'bout three blocks or so then turn right for a while you'll get to the corner store."

His directions didn't make me feel confident that I wouldn't get lost but I wasn't going to press if that's the most descriptive he could make it.

"Thank you, have a good movie Ponyboy" I hugged him, then immediately felt awkward for doing so because he didn't hug back and I realized how strange it was to hug someone you just met, but hell all of our meeting was a little out of the ordinary so far, but I pulled away quickly none the less and waved before turning around, and walking away to hide the blood flowing to my face from not getting a hug back.

"See ya around Cat" Pony called after me.

Even though I doubted myself the whole walk, especially when getting into the neighborhood because the houses all looked similar, I made it back home without any wrong turns. I walked up and found the door locked, knocking on the wooden entrance created a pounding in my heart from the fear of her parents asking what had happened. I didn't want to tell them anything at all from going to a party, drinking to the point of getting lost, going home with a stranger and sleeping at a boy filled home. Thinking about it now and how bad it all sounded, I never wanted to tell anyone because of how stupid a decision it all could have turned out to be.

I was glad when I came face to face with Sherri instead of adults, only to wish I never had to come home when her face turned hard before pulling me into the house and shutting the door. "Where were you? Why didn't you come home, I had no idea what to tell my parents this morning when you weren't with us for breakfast, I'm lucky they didn't question me when I said you were tired from unpacking, you know how much trouble I would be in?"

Although a little annoyed with the selfishness of her statement, being worried about her own hide instead of if I was okay, I answered calmly knowing how my cousin could get, "I'm sorry, I wandered off when drunk like you told me to and ended up getting lost when I tried to go home."

Lucky for me she was quick to go from anger to being sweet, "Ugh, I'm sorry about that, Bob can be such an ass when he drinks." I asked some questions about her and Bob, mostly to avoid her from asking where I slept. Although nothing happened, I still felt like if she knew I would be judged harshly.

After listening to her rant about her not so great sounding boyfriend, I showered and joined my aunt for a trip to the store. Even though Sherri stayed behind, I went with her both to make up for not eating breakfast with them as well as to learn where things in town were.

Not being a fan of making multiple trips, when we returned I grabbed most of the groceries from the car even though the bags were too high for me to see over and too heavy for me to hold without shaking and rushed into the house, more than happy to plop them all down on the kitchen table. Sherri came in, helping me and her mom unpack all the food, the whole time she kept giving me smirking glances that made me more and more confused with each look she would send my way. Once we were out of earshot of her mom I found out why.

"So, you got a call while you were gone." Shit. Be calm.

"Oh? Who was it?"

"I didn't ask, he said to head over later tonight though" She wiggled her eyebrows at me, especially as my face slipped from its cool state into one of excitement and embarrassment. "Spill! Who are you going out with? Is he cute?"

I wanted to melt into a puddle at the thought of being on a date with one of the attractive boys I had met, especially Soda. That boy could stop a war with a smile. I could hardly answer her as she stared at me expectantly, equally as excited as I was.

"He's just someone from last night" I wondered if I should feel bad for not wanting to explain to her that I was going out with a group of poor boys, it wasn't as if I was ashamed yet at the same time I didn't want her scolding me, or judging, or worst of all stopping me.

"Oh come on, give me more than that!" She exclaimed while pushing me lightly.

The door clicked shut as her father came home, allowing me to slip away from our conversation as he greeted her with a pat on the head before heading into the kitchen to find his wife.

"I'm going to go find an outfit to wear" I went for the stairs, with her hot on my trail.

By the time dinner was ready I had tossed most of my wardrobe onto the floor after trying it on and deciding none of it was what I wanted to wear. I didn't want to look too nice for a greaser party, but I didn't want to look trashy either, but I didn't want to wear too little and get cold or too much and get hot. I hated all the clothing I owned.

After sitting down for an awkwardly quiet dinner, I choose nice fitting jeans, an under tank with a sheer blouse over top. Pants to stay warm and if it got hot or I felt too formal I could unbutton the blouse a bit to show more and cool down. Before I could change my mind again and be late I walked away from the mirror and crept down the steps, past Sherris fighting parents who were too busy arguing to notice me leaving.


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own the things you recognize, and I didn't proof read this to the fullest that I could have sorry about that just was eager to get it posted for some reason. **

The nice thing about the Curtis household was that even if you didn't know exactly where the house was you could find it based off the playful commotion from inside. I went up to the door and knocked loudly, getting a come in yelled to me through the door. I went inside to see the oldest Curtis brother taking a shirt out of the laundry basket to put on, allowing me to catch a glimpse at the most built of the group.

Guess I was right about seeing all the brothers half dressed in no time at all. The horn dog in me kept staring and finally my brain kicked in and started talking so that my continuous looking in his direction wasn't as creepy, "You struck me as the stay at home type Darrel."

Soda stood up from the couch as he spoke, walking towards his now clothed brother to toss his arm around his shoulder, "He is! Turning into an old man!"

Darry gave him a stern look, "This old man can still whip your butt little man" They started laughing as Darry wrapped his younger sibling into a headlock, starting another round of playful fighting.

Getting out of the way I plopped down on the couch next to Johnny and Ponyboy until Two bit and Steve walked in the house minutes later with a case of beer, laughing as they cheered and whooped the fight on. Steve handed me a drink as he leaned against the arm rest, eyes focusing on the TV behind the wrestling match.

I wasn't much of a drinker, especially since I hadn't really been to too many parties in my 16 years, but I wanted to feel a little loosened up if I was going to go into a big group of people later, plus a small part of me didn't want to be the new girl who was no fun.

I turned to Johnny, figuring he would be easy to talk quietly to, "Are they always this rowdy?"

Instead of answering, Pony beat him to it, "pretty much, one time Steve and Soda broke our side table, if you look close you can see where it's all glued back together."

My eyes widened at the thought of that happening, as well as how normal it seemed to be for them, "How?"

Ponyboy laughed at my reaction, "Steve took Sodas cola"

Johnny finally spoke up, clearly trying to make me relax a bit more unlike Ponyboy who seemed to like the shock value, "they were just playin', no one got hurt. If you want to see a real fight watch Dally, no one hits harder than him."

I nodded as I remembered the vibe Dally gave off, I could see that being true, "Yeah, he seems tough."

"Who's tough?" Steve asked, hearing the end of our conversation as he looked away from the television set and in our direction.

"Dallas, apparently"

"Speaking of ol' Dal, where is he? I'm ready to go!" Two bit added from across the room.

Darry answered, "He's meeting us there"

"He livin' there now?" Johhny asked

"Think so"

Two bit was done with the conversation; he was bouncing off the walls ready to go to the point where he opened the door and ran to the truck yelling shotgun as Steve shouted the same and ran after him. I shook my head at their excitement before waving goodbye to Ponyboy and Johnny as Sodapop and Darry gave their brother hugs.

Soda hopped into the bed of the truck and offered me a hand and Darry stood by waiting to close the back after us, "You going to be alright back here?"

"Yeah, just try not to swerve off the road laughing when you look back and see my terrified expression"

Laughing at my half joke he patted me on the back before heading into the driver's seat and taking off.

It wasn't too bad; I had never ridden in the bed of a truck before so I was expecting much worse, I relaxed and got comfortable against the wall of the truck. Before I could make conversation with Soda the truck turned a sharp corner, causing me to quickly clutch onto the side so I didn't go flying across the bed.

Sodapop laughed at me, clearly amused, "You're lucky Darrys drivin', else you would fly right outta here."

"Yeah, I can picture it now: me shooting into the night sky as Two-bit goes over a speed bump at 70 miles per hour" I let go, now that the ride seemed to be going smoother even around turns.

Soda's smile was ear to ear, which gave me a swelling feeling in my chest that I was able to make him grin like that, as he was about to reply to my joke Darry slammed on the breaks. My body flew forward, landing painfully onto the handsome boys lap.

"You guys aright?" Darry called from the front as Sodapop rubbed the back of his head.

"They look more than alright!" TwoBit howled in laughter at his own suggestive joke, causing me to realize where I was and bolt upright in response. Instead of getting away from the awkward position, the back of my head slammed into what felt like Sodas chin, causing my face to fall right back into his lap. Giving up I rolled off of him while holding my head, never wanting to sit up or look at the boys again. My head was throbbing and my face was burning up, not a good start to the night.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to slam my head into you twice" I tried to apologize sincerely, only for Two bit to laugh even harder because of the sexual way my comment could be twisted.

Sodapop was polite and didn't acknowledge the pervy comments being made around us, "Don't worry about it, thick skull" he went to knock lightly on his head in a playful way, only to wince at the contact.

"You want to sit upfront kid? We'll kick Twobit here to the back"

Smiling at Darry's kindness as well as Twobit's whines of protest I replied, "No that's okay; I learned my lesson about not clinging to the side."

We started driving again, this time with my hands firmly on the side of the truck, glad that the wind was cooling my still warm face even if it was messing up my hair a bit.

When we had pulled up to what looked more like a rundown hotel then it did a home the boys wasted no time jumping out and rushing inside, I tried to keep up but once inside a blast of smoke and noise made me pause to look around as the music and sound of voices battled for dominance. It was easy to lose track of someone in the fog of the smoke, adding an extra haze to the already dimly lit room.

I stood, feeling somewhat lost as I hadn't noticed where any of the boys went. Party number two in this town that I've gone to and already a similar situation of me being left to stand awkwardly.

I tensed up as an arm slung around my shoulder, relaxing slightly as I recognized the nickname before I even had a chance to look over, "Lookin' a little lost, Red"

Although Dallas was the most intimidating of the group I couldn't help but to be excited that it was him rather than a drunken stranger, "Glad you found me, whose place is this?"

Removing the weight of his arm from my back he handed me the beer that he had and spoke before walking into the crowd, "I'll take ya to'em"

After making our way through the densest parts of the crowd, going around dancers and couples in deep lip lock we came to clearing with a circle of men playing cards. A man who looked to be in his mid or late 20's was leaning over, laughing with his friends when he looked our way and nodded his head in our direction before walking over. The way his posture changed from slack to straight caused me to think of bears that stand on their hind legs to look more intimidating, as I watched his paw reach out to shake with Dally's hand they spoke to one another, "New lady?"

"Nah, should dump her though, always runnin' around, but what do I care." He shrugged, while looking around the room, paying sharp attention to what was going on around them rather than focusing fully on who he was talking to even as his friend responded, "a fucks a fuck"

The bear was then turning his attention to me, extending his hand towards mine in introduction, "Buck"

"Catalina"

"Whatcha doing here with this dog?" He smirked over at dally, clearly wanting him to react to his playful jab.

"So far, taking his drinks and, Holy shit!" my random exclamation turned Dally's attention back to us, slight amusement on his face from a curse word flying from my mouth. While talking I had let my eyes wander past Buck's shoulder, noticing a pool table in the distance, brown eyes gleaming with excitement I forgot the whole previous conversation, "You have a pool table!"

Buck grinned, "Wannna play?"

Dallas cut in, "she doesn't need to leave here broke"

Buck laughed; "cut the leash man, let'er run free." He nodded at someone in the distance and patted Dallas on the shoulder before moving past us. I smiled at Dallas before heading forward towards the table, practically skipping towards them and calling dibs on the next free game right away.

I looked around as I leaned against an open spot on the wall noticing that Dallas wasn't following like I had thought. I couldn't help but to be a little bummed that everyone who wanted me to come so badly had kept disappearing on me tonight, but that stab of unhappiness faded quickly as my attention was brought back to the game at hand, my good mood returning full force as the end of the round neared. The loser handed over the stick as I walked over to help roll the balls back down the other side of the table where the winner was racking them up, "You playing for dough?" he asked.

"That depends, how much and by ball or game?"

He looked up, noticing who his opponent would be and smiled sweetly, "Game, stakes being low though since I don't want to take too much from my next date" He winked, his smile wide as his face would allow, his joy was contagious, causing my own mouth to form into a grin even though my eyes were rolling at his poor pick up line, "Just break, Casanova".

He broke, resulting in two solids falling into holes leading to him being able to take another shot in which he gained a third solid, at this I got a kick of nervousness, dreading the game being over too quickly if he was this good, but luckily he missed after that allowing me a chance to catch up. As the game went on I noticed Dallas had returned with a new drink in hand as well as Darrel, I smiled widely at them before looking back at the table for what could be the final shot.

I had one ball left on the table and all he had to do was get the 8ball in, but luck was on my side as right after the 8ball went in the white ball followed, leaving me to be the victor by dumb luck since he had scratched. I threw my arms in the air and excitedly yell out a "Ha, I win!" never having been a classy winner. Casanova walked over, handing me the few dollars that had been on the line.

"Sorry for the screaming, I get over excited when I win" I apologized for being a poor victor.

He just laughed as if I hadn't been rude by rubbing his loss in and explained that he would have been worse, "I probably would have ran over and kissed you if I won, besides I like a girl who isn't afraid to make some noise."

I blushed, my luck continuing as I didn't have to respond because the next player in line walked up and interrupted, saying he wasn't going to go easy on me and because of that wanted to up the stakes. After wiping the smug smile off his face by beating him easily, a crowd had gathered, among them I could now see Two-bit and Steve with a pretty girl on his arm. Waving to them I didn't notice as Dallas and Darrel stepped up next to me until I got a nudge. I smiled at Darrel, excited that the familiar faces I came with were all being found.

"So, how about a round?" I didn't care who had called next, I wanted to play against Darry, watch him loosen up a bit more. So I grinned excitedly, knowing when I used a certain smile my eyes would gleam and make anyone want to agree until he smiled and shook his head, grabbing the pool stick from my hands, "I'm breaking though."

Minutes later I realized that I had made a mistake as every ball was shot in by my opponent, not even giving me a chance to try to make a comeback. Now I see why he wanted to break. At least he didn't play around letting me think I could win before crushing me, right from the start he never let up. And at least as he handed his stick off to the next person he didn't look at me with a smug smile, instead he looked genuinely happy that he had gotten to play, making up for my complete loss, "Good game Darrel."

"I would say the same but I didn't really get to see what you've got" He chuckled

Before I could respond Two-Bit's arm slung around my shoulder, "So Kitten, does it hurt? If so I can rub it for ya"

I stared at him with a look of confusion, my one eyebrow felt as if it was raised all the way up to my hairline, "what?"

He cracked up laughing, slapping his knee before he even told his reasoning, "Your ass just got a whooping, I bet it's sore"

I lightly pushed him away laughing at his stupidity, "You're such a brat."

Steve spoke up, complementing my game before my round with Darry, "nice shootin', we should take ya to the pool house, find us some suckers."

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah I'm sure it'll be worth it even as the beat us up for scamming them."

Two bit laughed, "how bout' it Eve, you still gonna kiss this face when its swollen three times its size?" His hand reached out to touch Steve's face, only to get slapped away, if it wasn't for his arm being wrapped around Eve I was sure the playful slap would have turned into another wrestling match.

Eve wrapped both her arms around Steve, turning his face towards her and patting it as she answered, "wouldn't be nothin' new." I almost corrected her grammar, the snob in me wanting to point out the error.

Eve turned her attention back to the rest of us instead of Steve, "where's Sylvia tonight Dal?"

"Who cares", his tone and facial expression showing how annoyed he was with people asking about her. He pulled out a cigarette for himself and went to light it, catching my eyes as he looked up over the flame. "What's the matter Red, afraid of cancer?" he asked, noticing how my nose crinkled up in disgust.

"The smell bothers me is all, makes me feel like my insides are burning just being around it." The second I completed my sentence the sound of shouting and cheering erupted from nearby making the room sound like an audience at a professional wrestling match. Steve and Two-bit took off headed towards the fight, acting as bulldozers for the rest of us to follow behind to get us to the front of the action. I didn't want to see anyone get hurt, but I had never seen a fist fight break out and couldn't help but to be curious. The boys on the other hand though were ready to see a good fight, clearly excited until we got in view, finding Soda facing off with a much larger, muscular man. I was surprised since he doesn't seem like the type to go looking for a fight, but then again I had just met these boys the other day so what did I know.

"What the heck, is he drunk?"

"Soda doesn't drink" Darrel replied, standing stiff watching closely as the fight continued, by the look of the other guys face I would say Sodapop had fought pretty well, but things were taking a turn for the worse as the large man got a few head punches in, leaving soda on the ground. Before the man could kick him after he was down the oldest Curtis came to the rescue, I guess brotherly love trumps the man code of letting a fight play out. After helping him to his feet he pushed him towards the door, being respectful enough of his image to not drag him out by the ear like a parent would and being respectful enough not to start nagging him right in the middle of the crowd.

"What in the hell do you think you're doin?" even when he wasn't raising his voice, Darry held a tone of command, a type of voice that could make you feel small.

Soda didn't snap back or get defensive, he spoke calmly, explaining himself instead of turning it into a fight, "He kept hitting on Sandy, wouldn't leave her alone."

A voice came from right behind me, causing me to turn and see a very pretty blonde haired girl, "He really was being a huge pig Darry, and he even tried to reach for me." For a second I caught myself feeling a bit bummed that Sodapop had a beautiful girlfriend, but then had to laugh internally at the crazy notion that a boy with a face like that wouldn't have a girlfriend. The disappointed feeling faded quickly though and was replaced with a sense of alertness as the pig from the fight walked outside with equally large friends. Surprisingly all they did was stand staring in our direction for a few minutes; I guess they didn't want to take on the whole group.

"I think it's time to call it a night" Darry spoke as the boys walked off the porch.

"It's only midnight!" Two bit exclaimed followed by back up from Steve, "come on, don't let some oaf ruin the night." Darry looked hard at the boys before letting his expression soften, signaling that it was not yet time to go home.


End file.
